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Focus features two in-depth reviews each month of fine art, architecture and design exhibitions and events at art museums, galleries and alternative spaces around Japan. The contributors are non-Japanese art critics living in Japan.

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image image Can You See the Real Me? Yasumasa Morimura at the National Museum of Art, Osaka
Christopher Stephens
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Yasumasa Morimura, Self-Portraits through Art History (What Leonardo's Face Says), 2016, collection of the artist

  Yasumasa Morimura, Self-Portraits through Art History (Van Gogh / Blue), 2016, collection of the artist

Like any great actor, the artist Yasumasa Morimura (b. 1951) is blessed with supple features and a physique that lends itself to transformation. Since showing Portrait (Van Gogh), a photographic self-portrait inspired by van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe (1889), in a small-group exhibition called Smile with Radical Will at Galerie 16 in Kyoto in 1985, Morimura has inserted himself into a host of paintings and famous images from popular culture. Over the years, he has morphed into everyone from Che to Chairman Mao, Madonna to Mishima, Sharaku to Scarlett O'Hara -- to say nothing of the occasional fruit or flower.

Despite his international reputation, Morimura is still based in a working-class neighborhood in Osaka, not far from where he grew up. But until this year he has never been honored with a large solo exhibition in his hometown. The Self-Portraits of Yasumasa Morimura: My Art, My Story, My Art History (continuing through June 19 at the National Museum of Art, Osaka) is a combination retrospective and showcase of the artist's latest efforts. Among the 130 or so pieces on display are (actual) family photos, a faithful recreation of the Galerie 16 show (down to the works by the other two participants), a room dedicated to pictures of Frida Kahlo that are embedded in Mexican fiesta decorations, and new self-portraits of Morimura as various European masters like René Magritte, modern Japanese painters like Shunsuke Matsumoto, and Japan's first supermodel, Sayoko Yamaguchi.

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Yasumasa Morimura, Self-Portraits through Art History (Magritte / Triple Personality), 2016, collection of the artist

Despite the rather simple conceit, Morimura's art works remarkably well on a variety of levels. Even without any knowledge of the subject, we are immediately drawn in by the visual charm of the pictures. Then we begin to consider the inspiration behind the work or try to recall the original. And this naturally leads us to wonder how Morimura went about making these things that look so obvious but clearly required extensive research and preparation. How much is achieved with makeup and costumes, how much with computer processing? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is Morimura's sly humor, which strips away the pretense of art and allows us to approach it in a new way, calling our attention to things that we have never seen before.

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Yasumasa Morimura, A Symposion on Self-Portraits, 2016, collection of the artist

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Yasumasa Morimura

All images provided by
the National Museum of Art, Osaka.

The highlight of this exhibition is undoubtedly a new, over-70-minute video installation titled My Art, My Story, My Art History -- A Symposion on Self-Portraits. In this virtual summation of his career, Morimura appears as 11 different artists, spanning art history from Leonardo to Andy Warhol. In each of the segments (some of which were shot in modern settings like a disused shipyard or the streets of Osaka), Morimura delivers a monologue as the artist, shedding light on the making of their famous works, and musing on their inner thoughts and conflicts. The last segment, however, is a first: Morimura plays himself, the 13th artist seated at a table modeled on The Last Supper. The video concludes with a surprise ending, which seems to suggest that he is making a break with the past and heading in a new direction.

After three decades, Morimura's relentless focus on himself cannot help but seem predictable at times. But regardless of how familiar the concept is, it is refreshing to find a contemporary artist, who, instead of going out of the way to confuse or reject the viewer, is not afraid to amuse and entertain us.

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  The Self-Portraits of Yasumasa Morimura: My Art, My Story, My Art History
  The National Museum of Art, Osaka
  5 April - 19 June 2016
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Christopher Stephens
Christopher Stephens has lived in the Kansai region for over 25 years. In addition to appearing in numerous catalogues for museums and art events throughout Japan, his translations on art and architecture have accompanied exhibitions in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, South Korea, and the U.S. His recent published work includes From Postwar to Postmodern: Art in Japan 1945-1989: Primary Documents (MoMA Primary Documents, 2012) and Gutai: Splendid Playground (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2013).
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